Monday, August 26, 2013
We found Lilly Again! Lots of Service & Fun with Less Actives
Hi family and friends!!
Well, today is the first day of school at LSU and let me tell you it is
crazy!!! There are so many people on the campus and it is slightly overwhelming,
but extremely exciting too! We had the largest group yet at church yesterday
and it was really exciting! At the beginning of sacrament meeting there were
only a few people but by the end almost every chair was filled... that's a big
deal in our ward!! It was really fun to meet so many new people and welcome
them into our ward and to Louisiana!
As for the work this past week we didn't have a ton of lessons. We
had specialized training on Thursday and Friday and we did a service project and
that took up most of our time this past week. We were at the observatory and
they have these railings around the entire parking lot. We scraped the old
paint off of all of them and then we re-painted them all. We spent about 13
hours total in the sun and humidity and it was a great work! It was really fun
to spend time performing service for the community.
Exciting news of the week- We got back into contact with Lily this
past week and we had a great lesson with her! We were by her apartment on
Tuesday and had some time before institute and decided to stop by. She was home
and let us in. We talked to her a little about her concerns and then felt
prompted to read The Family: A Proclamation to the World together. It was a
great experience and we watched a few Mormon messages as well that she really
enjoyed. We are hoping to meet with her again in the next couple days and begin
with the lessons again! In other news, we weren't able to meet with Perry this
week. The only times he had available were the times we were at specialized
training so we were pretty bummed about that but he told us that he has been
reading the Book of Mormon and he wants to meet with us again, it is just a
matter of finding the time in his schedule! We have a former investigator named
Jessica that comes into town this week so we are really excited to meet her and
start teaching her too!
As for our less actives that we are working with the work continues to
progress there! We had another amazing lesson with Daniel last night and he
continues to progress more and more each time we visit him! The awesome thing
about our lessons with him is how powerful the spirit is every time and he
always comes to the realizations of what he needs to do, on his own! Hardly
have we had to tell him what to do, and the best part... When he realizes what
he needs to do, he actually does it!!!! Right now he is working on starting to
read the scriptures again. We read Alma 32 together last night and it was a
great experience! He promised us that he is going to finish reading the chapter
this week and we know he will stick to his promise!
On Wednesday we got to go to the temple because a member took us and we
got to see the new movie!! It is AMAZING!!! I loved it so much and I feel like
I understand so much more now. It is amazing the difference the emotion of the
actors and actresses makes in the viewers reaction and understanding to the
message. Funny part of it all, I've met one of the actors a couple times!
Ya'll look back at my pictures from my first semester at BYU-Idaho and tell me
what actor it is! It was really weird when I saw him on the screen because at
first all I could think was, "I've met him!!!".
Fun story for the week- Our neighbor has a pig! Sister Tuft and I came
out of the apartment earlier this week and there was a pig eating grass outside
the apartment! His name is apparently George and he is super friendly and we
got to pet him! When we tell people that our neighbor has a pig, no one seems
to shocked around here. Apparently it isn't that odd to have a pet pig in an
apartment complex?!
Life continues to be great here on the LSU campus though! We are
excited for Free Speech Alley this week and to really start spending more time
on campus. Just keep me in your prayers that I am able to have the courage I
need to talk to all these strangers :) I love you all and I am so grateful for
your prayers and your emails! I LOVE reading your emails every week! Enjoy
ya'lls week and I love you tons!!
Love,
Sister Ogden
Yikes, When it rains here it POURS!
HI family and friends!!
I hope all is going well on west coast! I am continuing to love it
here on the LSU campus! School starts up next week and a lot of people are
starting to move into the ward for school, it is fun to see the ward grow more
and more every week! We just got moved into a new apartment yesterday, actually
we stole the apartment they were planning on giving the LSU elders :) It is
right next to Walmart and closer to campus so we asked them if we could trade
with them since they have a car and we are on bikes, they were very nice and
agreed! We LOVE living next to Walmart because we don't have to take two
different buses and walk across campus to get our groceries, we can just walk
next store! Fun story of the week... On Tuesday Sister Tuft and I went on
exchanges with the sister training leaders. I stayed at LSU while Sister Tuft
went to the South Baton Rouge area. When my companion, Sister Marks, got here
she was really excited about being on bikes and wanted to bike to institute that
night instead of getting a ride with a member. I looked outside and the weather
was cloudy but seemed fine. We started biking to campus and about five minutes
into our bike ride it got extremely dark and starting pouring down rain. Now,
let me tell you something about Louisiana rain... Ya'll have never truly
experienced rain until you have been to Louisiana. It doesn't just rain here,
it POURS, buckets and buckets of rain. Within thirty seconds Sister Marks and I
were completely drenched! We call it our mini hurricane experiences because the
wind picked up as well and we were biking against it! We stopped and I asked
her if she wanted to stop and call someone for a ride but we figured we're
already soaked, might as well keep going! We finally got to the campus and were
biking across campus when we jumped a curb and the bike chain fell of her bike.
Next thing we know we are both standing in the pouring rain, in our skirts,
with her bike upside down, trying to put the bike chain on the bike! We finally
got it on and continued our ride to the institute building. Luckily we got
there about twenty minutes before the start of institute so only a few people
were there and we didn't cause too big of a scene. We were soaked... I honestly
don't think I have every been that wet in my life! There were puddles of water
wherever we stood in the building. We picked a nice spot in the back of the
classroom and by the time class was over there were puddles under our chairs.
Unfortunately, everything in our bags got soaked as well. Her camera doesn't
work anymore and my scriptures our now tie-dyed because of all the colorful
post-it notes I have in them. It's been almost a week and they are still
drying! Luckily, one of the sister in our ward just got back from her mission
in Germany and she has this awesome bag she is letting me borrow. It rained
everyday in her mission and she was on a bike as well, she said her stuff never
got wet in this bag! So, at the end of this transfer I might be having you
order me one online :) The next day we went to go visit a referral and while we
were in our lesson it started raining again. Luckily, this time we weren't on
bikes and were riding with a member but the streets got so flooded from the rain
there were cars stuck and they had to leave their cars. We took some photos
with Ariel's phone and she sent them to us so I will try to forward them to
ya'll! It was crazy!
The work has continued to go well here! We are stoked for school to
start up because we will be able to go on a campus a lot more and do a lot of
tracting on campus! We started teaching Perry this week and we have had two
official lessons with him. He came to FHE last Monday and had fun playing
soccer with everyone. We go to the first part of teaching the Plan of Salvation
and he had a lot of questions! We gave him some verses in the scriptures to
read and hopefully we'll get to meet with him again within the next couple days!
We have continued to try to contact Lily but aren't having any luck! She has a
friend who is a member in our ward and she comes back into town next week, we're
hoping she'll have more success in contacting her! I also found out that Ericka
is coming to visit in a few weeks and I'm so excited to see her and talk to her
about everything that has happened since she left!
We have continued to work hard with the less actives in our work and
figure our how to share our area with another set of missionaries! It's a lot
harder than I thought it would! We had another Sunday movie night last night
and we watched the Testaments! We had amazing turn out- about thirty people
this time and half of them were new people! We also had a few of our less
actives that we have been working hard with, who came! I love seeing these
little steps of progression in their lives because to some it may not seem like
a big deal, but working with these less actives I know it is a big deal that
they are there!
I wish I had more to write but most of our week has been spent moving
into our apartment and helping members move into theirs! I'm sure I will have A
LOT more to write in the next few weeks as school starts up! I hope ya'll have
an absolutely wonderful week! Mom- Have fun in WA and please give Melynda and
the girls a huge hug for me! Dad- Be safe and make sure you purchase a jeep
that actually runs this time :) Kristen- Good luck with School :) Thinking
about this time last year, I know exactly how you feel right now!! I love you
all and I am so grateful for all your prayers!!
Love,
Sister Ogden
Monday, August 12, 2013
New Elder help, one busy day, a possible new investigator
Hi Family and friends!
Thanks for your emails and prayers- now that I am on a bike I most
definitely need those prayers! First exciting news of the week... We have
elders at LSU now! We have the zone leaders working the area as well and I am
really excited to see how much work we can do with two sets of missionaries.
It was difficult the first part of the week because we had to divide up our area
with them and give them half the less actives we have been working with. That
was hard because you build up a relationship with these members and it is hard
to hand them off to someone else. It will make it easier for a lot of those we
passed off though because they are guys and we have to have a member if we are
to go visit them while the elders can stop by anytime to visit them. Elder Ageda
and Elder Knowlton are the two elders. Elder Ageda is from Guyana and he served
at LSU for about four months at the beginning of the year. He knows a lot of
nonmembers around the area from when he was in the area previously and so he is
excited to get in contact with them. Also, a lot of people from free speech
alley knew him so that will help having him there again!
This past weekend there was a YSA conference in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi so pretty much everyone we get rides from and a lot of those we
wanted to visit were gone. It was a very slow weekend! We had about seven of
us at church yesterday and that was very entertaining. Sister Tuft and I spoke
with the high councilman and the elders gave both the prayers. I was also the
pianist for all three meetings. We had to laugh too because our topic was
helping less actives and about half the congregation was less actives.
Therefore, we were talking to them about rescuing themselves :) The elders
ended up teaching sunday school and then we taught combined priesthood relief
society. I think everyone who came was sick of the missionaries by the end
because we literally ran the entire meeting! I guess all those experiences in
previous wards of speaking and teaching on the same day were preparing me for
this! All the other missionaries were making a big deal out of it and all I
could think was- "uh... I'm use to it!"
We haven't been able to get in contact with Lily which is quite the
bummer! We keep trying to contact her but she's not responding. She has a
friend named Jazmin who is in our ward but as been out of state all summer. She
just got back into town yesterday so we are hoping she can get in contact with
her! We did meet a new possible investigator on Friday! Sister Tuft and I
decided to ride the bus to campus that day, instead of biking, but unfortunately
we missed the last bus home. We didn't realize the last bus had already left
though so we were waiting at the bus stop along with another guy named Perry who
was in the same situation as us. I had recently made a goal to talk to one new
person per day so I sat there for about ten minutes trying to convince myself to
have the courage and talk to him. Finally I built up the courage and I honestly
have no clue what I even asked him. We started talking though and it was a
great conversation. It obviously came up that we were missionaries and then he
started telling us about his beliefs. He had a lot of beliefs that were similar
to ours in the church, which made me really excited. We listened to him talk
for about an hour and then we realized we needed to get going because we were
going to have to walk home and it was a long walk (all our member rides were at
the YSA conference). We got his number and asked if we could visit him and tell
him about our beliefs. He said yes and then asked which direction we were
walking. We told him the area we lived and it turned out that was were he was
heading so he actually walked the first mile and a half with us. It was really
fun to talk to him and he was super nice! We have an appointment set up with
him for today, right before FHE. He sent us a text yesterday saying he just
wants it to be understood that he doesn't want to join our church but he really
likes talking with us :) We figured we would take what we can get! Maybe he
just doesn't know he wants to join the church :)
That was pretty much our most exciting story of the week. Biking
continues to be an adventure! I'm hungry ALL THE TIME!!! and that's kind of
frustrating! It does allow us to spend more time on campus though and that is
where we find most of our people who we talk to! I'm so grateful to be here at
LSU for another transfer. I have grown to love this ward so much it is going to
be hard when I get transferred to a different area. We have so many wonderful
returned sister missionaries and they are so great to give us rides and go to
lessons with us! Everyone keeps telling me that we are spoiled at LSU because
the bishopric is so amazing in working with us too! It really is a great ward
and the members teach me so much about how to love others and see them as they
can become! I never have to worry about a less active or non member not
feeling welcomed at church or activities because our ward is so good at
fellow-shipping!
I hope ya'll have a wonderful week and mom, I'm glad you had such a
wonderful birthday!!! And Kristen, I hope you are enjoying your new pet :) I
love you all so much and I am so grateful for all of your prayers! I love this
gospel and that love grows more and more everyday! This is Christ's church upon
the Earth and there is no doubt in my mind about that! Thank you for all you
have taught me and the love you have shown for me through the past 23 1/2 years
:) I love ya'll!!!
Love,
Sister Ogden
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Not So Sure About This Biking 24-7 & A Funny Piano Story!
Hello Family and Friends!!
First things first, I'm a biking sister now! I have officially been on
a bike for five days now and I'm going to be honest... not really enjoying it
too much! I don't think I have ever been so wet with sweat! I know that sounds
gross but it's just the truth! The humidity here is killer to bike in and
because our area covers all of Baton Rouge we are almost completely reliant upon
members, and to limit even more, only the sister members! Luckily we have a ton
of wonderful sisters in our ward who love going on visits with us and a few of
them are returned missionaries so they know what it is like to be in our
position and are more than happy to give us rides!
I found out yesterday that I
am staying in LSU for at least one more transfer so I will continue to be a
biking sister. Sister Tuft and I are both staying for this next transfer and we
are really excited. School starts up at LSU on the 26th of August and that is
when the work really picks up. They have what is called free speech alley
during the school year and the missionaries set up a booth about two days a
week. The name of our booth is called "Ask a Mormon" and students can come by
and ask us any question the want. It is a great contacting tool and we are
really excited to be a part of it starting in the next few weeks! We also found
out that we get to go to a couple LSU football games so that will be
interesting. LSU football is ALL people talk about here so President Wall
allows the LSU missionaries to go to a couple games apartently, so we can have a
conversation starter with nonmembers :) I didn't complain when I found out!
The work is continuing to move forward here, mainly with the less
actives in our ward. However, exciting news... We found out that Ericka has
officially set a date for September 7th and she went out tracting with the
sister missionaries in Chicago and has talked about going on a mission after she
gets baptized!!! How amazing is that??!!! She became really good friends with a
boy in our ward right before she left and she keeps in contact with him so he
relays all the information onto us. I wish so badly I could talk on the phone
with her and hear all of this from her! It makes me so excited to see how much
she has changed already. Jason told us that she texted him on Monday and she
had just had the Word of Wisdom lesson from the missionaries. She used to be a
really big partier and when we talked to her the Word of Wisdom (mainly beer) is
what she was really worried about. However, after she had the Word of Wisdom
lesson she went into her fridge and took all her alcholic beverages and dumped
them down the drain! AHH!! I was so excited! She really is amazing and I
can't wait to see where life takes her! We still don't know much about how her
mom is doing but after meeting her mom a few weeks ago I'm sure all of this is
having a positive impact on her as well! As for Lily, cool story! So we
continued last week to get in contact with her and she still wasn't returned any
of our texts or calls and wasn't answering the door when we would stop by. We
decided to fast for her on Sunday and yesterday when we were leaving campus to
go contact a referral, we ran into her! It was totally random (but not really
:)) and it was awesome! She was the one who started waving to us and then we
realized who it was as she got closer. She told us that she had stayed with
her family longer than planned and she had just got back into town this past
weekend. She said she would call us in the next couple days and we can get
together again. I'm really hoping we get to continue on with our lessons! and I
am so grateful for the power of fasting!!
All of our work this last week has been with less actives and it has
been great! We have one less active who we are working with and he is a
returned missionary. He fell away from the church a few years after coming home
from his mission. Because of personal experiences he really struggles with the
thought that God is our loving Heavenly Father. He said that he knows that if
there is a true church that this is it and his relationship with God is his only
hold up right now. If he can build that testimony of God being his loving
Heavenly Father he said that everything else will fall into place. It has been
a wonderful experience working with him because he really does have the desire
to rebuild his testimony and he has been coming back to church for the past
month. He has been reading a lot of conference talks and is trying to build
faith. The only problem is he doesn't want to pray or read the scriptures
because he doesn't trust God right now and we know prayer is the main source for
receiving the confirmation that God lives and that he loves you! But, right now
we are taking baby steps with him and we are just so excited that he is coming
to church and so willing to meet with us. Please, keep him in your
prayers!
So... funny story for the week! On Sunday we had a stake musical
fireside and guess who was asked to play in it? You guess it... The one and
only- Sister Ogden. I got to accompany Kristen, a girl in our ward, while she
sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer. She is a beautiful singer and actually has a
song on iTunes (You should look her up! Kristen Horn). Anyhow, I received the
music last Monday and I tried to practice every chance I got last week. We only
have so much extra time in the day and because we got put on bikes half way
through the week it made it even harder. I had a few measures I struggled with,
but all in all I was doing pretty good with the song, and Kristen was so great
to work with! Well, Sunday came and we practiced a few more times before the
fireside. Sister Tuft was my official page turner and her, Kristen and I were
joking around that she had the hardest job. We kept telling her not to mess up
and if anything goes wrong with the song it's her fault. She knew how hard I
had practiced the piece and knew how nervous I was about playing. When it came
time for our piece we went up on the stage and I layed out my music. It was six
pages long so I had the first four pages laid out and the last two were stapled
to a manila folder. Sister Tuft's job was to put the folder on as soon as I was
done with the fourth page. I started playing and Kristen starting singing and
things were going pretty good. Not perfect, but probably the best I had played
yet. I was in the middle of playing the fourth page and Sister Tuft decided she
was going to put the folder on early so I didn't have to wait and she would miss
her cue. When she put the folder on it knocked my fourth page off, WHILE I WAS
PLAYING IT!!!! She was on the other side of the piano and therefore couldn't
grab it. As soon as it flew off I quickly grabbed it out of the air and tried
to position it back on the stand. I listend to where Kristen was in the song
and picked back up. Poor Kristen had no clue what was going on behind her and
did a wonderful job with just continueing to sing. I was so rattled by what
happened the last two pages where kind of a mess with me playing them and I
pretty much just laughed while I finished the song. Sister Tuft felt so bad and
the funny part is, no one realized it was her fault. After the fireside
everyone kept coming up and commenting on my impressive relfexes and how awesome
it was so watch it all go down. I was so embarassed!! But, really all I could
do about the whole situation was laugh at the fact that it happened and to look
at the brightside- I didn't have to worry about playing the part I struggled
with most because the page was in the air during those measures :) The fireside
was a beautiful even though! It was a musical fireside all about the
restoration and there were some beautiful songs performed!
I have continued to love it here in Louisiana and I am so glad I get to
stay in my area for another transfer. I have grown to love all the members in
our YSA ward and I have finally started to get their trust and build
relationships with them. I can tell it is going to be even better once the
school year starts up! It sounds like things are going well in back home and in
Utah too! Sounds like an excited adventure with everyone getting to Sunriver
and leaving and I'm glad ya'll got to spend at least one day together! You will
definitely have to send me some pictures of the trip, I would love to see
Melynda and Allie with their bellies! I hope ya'll have a wonderful week and I
am excited to hear from ya'll next week! I love you!!
Love,
Sister Ogden
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